Review by Booklist Review
Just when it seems everything has already been said about Billy Wilder's masterpiece, Lubin expertly reimagines all things--Sunset Boulevard, uncovering new insights and connections with a scholarly yet conversational tone. Including fabulous images and a somewhat chronological narrative, this book unfolds with the excitement of a novel. What truly sets it apart is its fierce attention to the film's metacontext: how Sunset Boulevard emerged at an awkward and transformative moment in both Wilder's life and Hollywood history. And how, most importantly, the film reflected the industry's anxieties about fame, aging, and obsolescence. Lubin deftly breaks down the film's disastrous production and wayward staff, sharing tidbits and subtle details that even seasoned fans may have overlooked. The final chapter, along with consistent references throughout, ties Wilder's characters and themes to our current cultural climate, offering a powerful commentary on the enduring nature of Hollywood's obsession with beauty and relevance. For anyone fascinated by Hollywood's beginnings or Billy Wilder's body of work, this heavily researched yet never dense page-turner is an essential addition to any film fanatic's bookshelf.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this detailed account, art historian Lubin (Grand Illusions) investigates how the 1950 film Sunset Boulevard expressed both the anxieties and joys of being in the spotlight. Sunset Boulevard is "a movie about moviemaking," Lubin writes, in which former star Norma Desmond hires young screenwriter Joe Gillis to read her film script before taking him as a lover and murdering him out of jealousy. Lubin details the personal backgrounds of many people involved in Sunset Boulevard's production, including director Billy Wilder and his cowriter, Charles Brackett. Beginning in the 1930s, Wilder and Brackett teamed up to write several successful films; after the death of a washed-up filmmaker in 1948, Brackett reflected on the feeling of falling into obscurity and worked with Wilder to turn this idea into a film. Lubin notes that the film, in addition to blurring "the lines between real life and reel life" including in its casting, tips "into comedy, mystery, melodrama, social satire, or horror." The author paints a complex portrait of both the film and the industry it takes to task. This shines. Agent: Elias Altman, Massie, McQuilkin & Altman. (Aug.)
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Review by Library Journal Review
Lubin (Grand Illusions: American Art & the First World War) delves into the creation of the classic 1950 film Sunset Boulevard, exploring how director Billy Wilder and his screenwriting partner, Charles Brackett, took the theme of fleeting fame and wealth and produced a deeply critical masterpiece about the corrupting influence of Hollywood's obsession with youth and stardom. Lubin introduces readers to the early careers of Wilder and Brackett, as well as the film's stars, Gloria Swanson, William Holden, and Erich von Stroheim, showing the professional experiences of each enhanced their contributions to the film. Lubin posits that Swanson's bravura performance as Norma Desmond was grounded in her ability to recognize Desmond's thirst for renewed fame, even though Swanson was, unlike her character, a pragmatist resigned to having aged out of starlet status. Despite Sunset Boulevard's grim outlook on the movie industry, Lubin demonstrates how the score, set design, and cinematography drew upon well-established Hollywood motifs to create an ingenious combo of noir thriller, gothic horror, and sardonic comedy. VERDICT Insightful and thoroughly entertaining, this is a must-read for all fans of classic Hollywood.--Sara Shreve
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
HowSunset Boulevardmade film history by reflecting on Hollywood's past. Widely considered the finest Hollywood film about Hollywood, director Billy Wilder'sSunset Boulevard (1950) rose out of crisis. Wilder's two previous movies had flopped, the studio system was crumbling, a crackdown on Hollywood leftists was underway, and the growth of television threatened the film industry. Amid this turmoil, Wilder and his team fashioned a quirky film about an aging film star, a desperate young screenwriter, and the disfiguring effects of what author Lubin calls the dark side of the Hollywood dream. Wilder's project was by no means a safe bet. With its irreverent script, mordant humor, and edgy sensibility,Sunset Boulevard jumped between genres and lampooned the industry that produced it. Yet Lubin's capsule biographies of the film's principals reveal how the project came together and made cinematic history. Wilder's early years in Vienna and Berlin are vividly recounted, as are the remarkable careers of Gloria Swanson and Erich von Stroheim. Producer and screenwriter Charles Brackett, actor William Holden, and supporting actress Nancy Olson are given their due. So are Hedda Hopper, Buster Keaton, and Cecil B. DeMille, whose appearances in the film helped blur the line between past and present, art and real life. Lubin keeps the film, its creators, and its reception in sharp focus and displays a knack for concise analysis.Sunset Boulevard was a movie "about has-beens and also-rans, about failed comebacks, misguided dreams, and murderous delusions." Yet it was made by "a raft of exceptionally creative individuals, all at critical junctures in their careers, several of them playing roles that seemed drawn from their actual lives." Deeply informed but never pedantic, this book shows how Wilder and his team turned Hollywood's midcentury crisis into film history. A deft account of a Hollywood classic. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
